Has anyone else hear heard the (horrifying) term “Dead Faith”?

I’d like to preface this by saying that I (19M) was raised in a latino catholic household and am now an irreligious guy, but am aligning more and more with judaism and have incredible respect for it. As an Argentinian I was always exposed to judaism in buenos aires but my journey into being more intrigued by it is recent. This journey started after visiting a friend in Israel this past summer but I digress.

Anyways, this story begins with me wandering the campus of my college a few days ago and getting harassed for the second time in a week by the local “bible study group” evangelicals hounding every passerby to join their group. After having politely declined their offer, they kept hounding (which was a repeat of the earlier encounter) and I just said “I’m sorry but you won’t get far, I personally find more value in the teachings of judaism, please go away.”

Mayhem ensued. The guy doubles down and insists that there will be value in me reading the bible with him and I politely decline again and say “I’m comfortable with what I believe, but thanks.” This sent him into a rage and he said “Well what you believe is a dead faith!”. I was in shock because this is supposed to be a diverse university in southern california, if saying not even that I am jewish but that I am interested more in it than christianity elicits this reaction… I guess I first hand saw what my Jewish friends here in LA have been living for far too long (and this pales in comparison to other stories).

I responded after the initial shock at the comment passed with “If that’s what you believe that’s fine, but don’t push it on me. This campus is not the place to harass people and you can’t just talk to people like this.” Which gave him the opening to say “It’s not what I believe, it’s the truth. You’ll find out some day soon”.

What the fuck? Anyways I walked off and reported him. thankfully counseling and campus police intervened with the guy, he’s forbidden from participating in bible club now or whatever (should’ve been expelled imo).

Not only do I want to warn other people in LA about these kinds of things by posting this, but also what is a “dead faith” supposed to even be? I want to be extra on the lookout for anti-semitic dog whistles and think this may be one. At least the faith seems alive and well in Jerusalem from when I was there just 2 months ago! I apologize in advance for any ignorance I may be displaying. Thank you for your answers.